TGS: Warriors: Legends of Troy Preview

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Literary hack 'n slash.

By Kristine Steimer

Dynasty Warriors is a huge title in Japan, but its overseas popularity hasn't translated to the North American market. That's where Tecmo's game Warriors: Legends of Troy comes in. Built off the Dynasty Warriors engine, Troy follows the tale of the Illiad, which details a sage of the Trojan War, though I'm not sure how closely this game follows the story. Troy does allow you to play on both sides of the battle as the Greeks and the Trojans, and you'll play as eight different heroes over the course of the two separate storylines. Each side will have four major characters -- Achilles and Agamemnon have been confirmed for the Greeks and Hector and Paris for the Trojans.

Since the story is about a war and it's an action game, you'll obviously be unleashing a lot of hell onto the opposing army. I played as Achilles and devastated waves and waves of militia. Rows of nearly identical character models were lined up in the distance, and when I approached, the A.I. sprung into action and all of the men surrounded me. You'll only fight with one main weapon (which will have specific stats) at a time, but you can pick up an enemy's weapon and use it temporarily. It was enjoyable to stab people in the face (yes, that's an actual animation), but the gory animations did get a little repetitive.

To defend yourself, you'll use two kinds of attacks and a basic rolling dodge. As you kill people, a meter fills until you can trigger Fury mode, where time slows down and makes your attacks even more devastating. This mode comes in handy when you're surrounded by angry men with spears or when fighting a boss. Speaking of bosses, the one I faced was a statue of Apollo possessed by the God himself. Apparently he didn't appreciate the fact that I was in his base, killing his dudes.

Although the section I played only starred Achilles, I was told that other levels will feature squads of A.I. controlled members to make it feel more like a true war battle scene. You can expect to see Warriors: Legends of Troy on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 early next year.